


choose love or sympathy

by aditlep6



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Conflict Resolution, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Happy Ending, Multi, Unrequited Love, but it works out, love me some sweet healthy communication
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:34:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22043398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aditlep6/pseuds/aditlep6
Summary: The farmer just couldn't wrap their head around why Alex was acting so weird around them. Shane, however, knows exactly why.
Relationships: Alex & Player (Stardew Valley), Shane/Player (Stardew Valley)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 38





	choose love or sympathy

**Author's Note:**

> kind of inspired by events in-game. i was married to shane, but alex confessed to me, and i was like damn. i love both these dumb boys
> 
> title from Xo by fall out boy
> 
> enjoy!

“Hey, Alex!” The farmer shouted. Alex was trudging out of his house at an unusual time. Alex almost always worked out in his room around now. “What are you doing out? Here, have some fruit.”

The farmer hauled their hefty wicker basket around and held it out or Alex to make his choice. He chose an apple, like he always did.

“Hey, farmer. Today’s my yearly checkup.” He took a heaping bite out of the crisp apple and the farmer was tempted to take one for themself. “Your usual rounds?”

“Yep, wanna make sure I get everyone that doesn’t come to the saloon before the end of the week.”

“You hang out at the saloon?” Alex asked with a sizable chunk of apple lodged in his cheek. “Makes sense, being married to Shane and all.” He looked away awkwardly, but the farmer stood their ground.

“Shane doesn’t drink anymore,” they defended. Alex shrugged. “You should really stop by the farm sometime, Alex. We’d love to have you for dinner. I think you and Shane have a lot more in common than you think.”

“I gotta go,” Alex said abruptly, fidgeting with his varsity jacket with one hand and holding a white-knuckle grip on the apple with the other. “I’d like to have dinner with _you_ sometime, though.”

The farmer’s brow furrowed in confusion, but Alex scurried off before they could say anything.

~~~

“I’m home,” the farmer kicked off their boots when they entered the house. They were promptly tackled by a toddler. “Hey!”

“Hey yourself,” Shane replied as he scooped the baby up off the farmer so they could finish entering the house. “Welcome home.”

“Thanks, babe.” They safely put their boots aside and leaned in to kiss their husband and tickle the baby’s cheek.

“What were you up to today? I went for a walk. Buh, I’m out of shape.”

“Gifting!” The farmer replied cheerfully, replacing the now-empty wicker basket back to its place on top of the fridge.

“Yeah, I heard you secretly gave Alex a present today. Is there anything I should be worried about?” The accusation had no real venom, and Shane had a goofy smile on his face, but it gave the farmer pause.

“Haha, yeah,” they mumbled, and then opened the fridge. “What’s for dinner?”

“Babe?” Shane put the baby down, who promptly waddled off to chase the cat. “I was only kidding. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, I’m sorry,” they supplied, “Alex has just been strange lately. It’s never been awkward or tense with him like it has been.”

“Well, I can tell you exactly why things with Alex are awkward and tense,” Shane huffed. 

“I don’t buy into that and you know it. Alex doesn’t hate you. Nobody here hates you, Shane.” Shane didn’t look satisfied with that answer. “What? Are you thinking something else?”

Shane was quiet for a moment, and then shrugged, scratching at some fresh stubble. “I don’t know Alex well enough to run diagnostics in my own kitchen, but yeah, the kid obviously likes you.”

“I sure hope he likes me, he’s my friend.” Shane rolled his eyes at the oblivious farmer, but it went unnoticed. “I think you two have a lot more in common than you think. I told him that today. But you boys don’t want to start getting along any time soon. All that we can do now…” The farmer reached deep into the freezer and pulled out a brightly colored box. “Is eat some pepper poppers!”

~~~

_meet me at the saloon after dark. -Alex_

The note was placed in the mailbox in front of the farmhouse. The farmer checked the mail yesterday, so the note had to be new. 

“Hmm, wonder what he wants.” They tucked the note into their overalls pocket. 

“Who?” Shane shouted over the spray of the sprinklers soaking the field of crops. He was working on his chicken coop.

“Alex,” the farmer approached. “He wants to meet me at the saloon tonight.”

“Interesting,” Shane commented.

“What’s that mean?” The farmer crossed their arms.

“You sure are clueless, aren’t you? Whatever. It doesn’t matter. I love you anyway.” Shane stood up and popped a kiss on his partner’s cheek. “Have fun at the saloon. I’m going to go out today, alright?”

“Alright, sweetheart. Thanks.” The farmer waved their husband goodbye, but couldn’t possibly imagine what Shane had been implying.

~~~

“Crap, crap, crap…”

The farmer was late. By the time the sun was almost set, they were dirty, bruised, exhausted, pecked by chickens, and had almost completely forgotten about meeting Alex at the saloon. It was not a good idea to start deep cleaning the chicken coop in the mid-afternoon.

They didn’t like racing through town on their horse after sunset, but this was an emergency. They had never turned down a friend’s request- not Leah’s art show, or Elliot’s book reading, or even playing Solarian Chronicles with Sam and Sebastian…

Hooves clacked enthusiastically on the cobblestone pathway of the town square. They pulled their horse into a harsh stop and looked up at the sign for the Stardrop, barely visible in the dim moonlight. They tumbled into the saloon still out of breath to see Alex leaning against the wall by the door, looking impatient. 

“Alex! I’m so sorry, I was cleaning the coop and I totally forgot-” Alex looked the farmer up and down. The farmer realized they were still kind of gross, even if the hurried ride over knocked a fair bit of dirt and grass off their overalls. “Oh my, I look horrible. I’m really sorry.”

“No it’s okay,” Alex said quietly. The few patrons of the saloon were all looking at them now. “I reserved a room in the back for us. Follow me.” He started walking, and the farmer followed dumbly. They made eye contact with a smirking Pam on the walk past the jukebox and into the back room closer to where Gus lived.

“I didn’t realize there was a room back here,” they commented. Alex opened the door to reveal a lovely two-person table set in a dim, candlelit room. That's right, Alex did say he wanted to have dinner sometime. 

“Me either,” Alex replied. He held the door open as the farmer stepped in and took a seat at the far chair. Alex hesitated for a second before taking his own seat.

“Something wrong?” The farmer inquired.

“Oh, no, I was just… gonna push your chair in for you.” A barely visible blush spread across Alex’s cheeks.

“Why? I can push my own chair in. It’s just dinner, right?” The farmer was truly confused when a pang of sadness flashed across Alex’s face. “Alex, is-“

Before they could finish, Gus entered with a violin.

_A violin?!_

“Alex, look, I don’t know what’s going on. I’m really sorry if I’m missing something, but I legitimately don’t understand and you’re going to have to explain it to me like I’m five.” It clearly changed the mood in the room, because Gus took his leave without a word. Alex avoided eye contact.

“Well, I had this whole thing planned, but if you really just want to cut to the chase… I reserved this private room so we could talk.”

“About?” Alex swallowed loudly before continuing.

“I didn’t want to have feelings for a married person, but you’re just so incredible, and I could never understand what was so great about that guy…”

Blood of embarrassment and a tinge of anger rushed to the farmer’s face. Had they truly been so blind to Alex’s feelings for so long?

“Alex, I don’t know what you think you’re going to get out of insulting my husband and the father of my child. I care about you very deeply, but not in that way, and I hope you can respect that. I appreciate how you feel and I still want to be your friend, but you can’t take your frustrations out on Shane. That’s not fair to him.”

The room was silent for a moment, but Alex eventually took a deep breath and hung his head.

“You’re right. I’m sorry. I didn’t think of how talking about Shane like that would make you feel.”

“It’s okay, Alex. I appreciate all this, and not keeping your feelings hidden. But I am married and I have no plans on changing that any time soon.”

“You’re right, I don’t know what I was thinking. I don’t want you to leave him. I can tell you really love him and you’ve made him a lot better.”

“He’s gotten a lot better of his own accord for his own personal happiness,” the farmer corrected him. Alex nodded.

“Thanks for letting me down easy, farmer.”

“I wasn’t lying about what I said yesterday. I’d still love to have you over for dinner sometime.”

“Would Shane mind, after today?”

“Not at all. He’d love to have someone to talk Tunnelers with. And not to stroke my own ego, but I think he can relate to someone that has feelings for me.” The farmer gave a toothy grin and Alex gave his own genuine smile in return.

“I’d like that.”

~~~

A few weeks later, the doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it!” The farmer wiped some sweat- and a little bit of grease -off of their forehead before putting the potholder down on the counter and wiping their hands off on their apron.

“You’re cooking, babe! Let me get it!” Shane was already at the door before the farmer could argue. It swung open to reveal a blush-faced Alex shivering out on the porch, a small pastry box in arm. “Alex, come in, it’s freaking freezing out there!” Shane warmly greeted.

“Hi, Shane,” Alex took a step into the farmhouse and kicked off his winter boots. He handed Shane the box with his left hand and offered a handshake with his right. “Thank you for inviting me to your home.”

“Not that I don’t want you here, but it wasn’t my invitation,” Shane deflected. “They’ve been cooking all night, all excited for an athlete to come taste their food.”

“You played gridball, didn’t you? That's two athlete's appetites.” The farmer turned to catch some huge, flustered eyes on their husband’s face. They laughed out loud, drawing attention to themselves.

“Come have a seat, boys! Dinner’s almost ready!” They turned the stove off and Shane and Alex shuffled towards the kitchen table. It was already covered with pots of veggies, potatoes, and tall glasses of iced tea. 

“Where’s the cute little scamp? I’ve only seen him at festivals since you adopted him.” Alex looked around the farmhouse.

“Sleepover with Jas at Aunt Marnie’s,” Shane said. “Sorry, if we’d have known you wanted to see him, we could’ve kept him around, but sometimes we just need an adult’s night, you know?”

“I could imagine,” Alex agreed just as the farmer dropped a pan with a massive roast right in the center of the table. 

“Oh, crap! I forgot something in the cellar.” The farmer looked straight into Shane’s eyes. They were a horrible actor. “I’ll be back in about, oh, forty-five seconds or so.” The farmer took off down the basement stairs.

“Aren’t they funny?” Shane laughed and took a sip of tea. Alex shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “I just wanted to tell you that we talked about what happened at the saloon those few weeks ago and I have absolutely no hard feelings against you. I know they can be a little clueless when it comes to other’s feelings. I’m more than happy to have you over and grateful that you can still continue to be friends.” The weight guilt was lifted off Alex’s chest and replaced with relief. 

“Wow man, thank you. You don’t know how much that means to me. I’m glad to do something that makes them happy, and glad to get to know you a little better. They care about you a lot, you know.”

“Sometimes it’s hard for me to realize, but yeah. When I think about my life, I’m in a pretty good spot right now.” There were footsteps tapping up the stairs.

“I’m back!” The farmer announced with a large glass jug in their hands.

“Oh, I thought you went down there so Alex and I could have the awkward talk. I didn’t expect you to bring something up.”

“No? I went down to get the eggnog I made for tonight out of the basement fridge. What awkward talk?”

“Why would you announce exactly how much time you’d be gone for if you didn’t want us to talk?” 

“So you guys wouldn’t worry that I’d be away for too long! Come on, let’s eat.” The farmer plopped down and promptly stabbed a potato with a fork. Shane and Alex laughed, and then began the feast.

~~~

Later, when Shane and Alex were emphatically commentating the Tunnelers game on the couch and the farmer pet the purring cat in their lap, they knew that these things were just meant to work out.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!


End file.
